Some known power converters such as inverters and DC-DC converters include semiconductor devices such as IGBTs, a smoothing capacitor, and positive and negative bus bars electrically connecting them (refer to PTL 1 below).
The positive bus bar includes a positive side body connected to the capacitor and a plurality of positive side branches extending from the positive side body and connected to semiconductor devices. The negative bus bar includes a negative side body connected to the capacitor and a plurality of negative side branches extending from the negative side body and connected to semiconductor devices. The positive side branches and the negative side branches are arranged alternately. Therefore, the positive side branches and the negative side branches are close to each other, which reduces the parasitic inductances of the branches.
Power converters that have been recently developed can simultaneously turn on and off a plurality of parallel-connected semiconductor devices so as to produce a high output current as a whole even when only a low current flows through the individual semiconductor devices.